Why do my images print dark?

My pictures keep coming back from being printed darker then they appear in photoshop.

I am using photoshop cs3, spyder3elite, calibrated dell 2408wfp monitor, and printing at my local Walmart.

Is it something in my work flow, calibration settings, a monitor issue, photoshop settings, or Walmart that is causing the difference?

Work flow:Open image in Adobe Camera Raw and make needed exposure and color changes.In photoshop I crop the image to the needed size and add a little unsharp mask.I then I save as the photo as a jpg with the icc box checked.Then upload to Walmart

If you don't request for images to be printed without auto corrections/enhancemen​ts they will often come back much differenct than expected.

You may also want to "Proof Colors" in CS3 since some labs give results that are a bit off what you will see on your calibrated monitor even when you have asked for the images to be printed without auto corrections/enhancemen​ts. To proof colors you need to get Walmart's ICC printer profile.

One of the most common reasons for dark prints is that your monitor is brighter than any print will be under normal lighting.

Imagine you are displaying pure white on your monitor. Now think of how a sheet of white paper will look under normal indoor lighting. Which is brighter? For most people, the monitor will be much brighter, and therefore the images on your monitor will be brighter than they will on a print.

You could try to reduce the luminence that you are calibrating to (currently 125 cd/m2). I have my monitor calibrated to 100 cd/m2 and it is still brighter than prints, unless they are viewed in bright daylight.

Wilt is an old fart who has extensive experience with many brands and many formats of cameras, and extensive lighting knowledge of both studio lighting and speedlights

33,940 postsJoined Aug 2005SF Bay area, CA

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gcogger wrote in post #6560412One of the most common reasons for dark prints is that your monitor is brighter than any print will be under normal lighting.

Imagine you are displaying pure white on your monitor. Now think of how a sheet of white paper will look under normal indoor lighting. Which is brighter? For most people, the monitor will be much brighter, and therefore the images on your monitor will be brighter than they will on a print..

Exactly!

Go to dpreview.com and pick any of the dSLR reviews. At the bottom of page 1 of all reviews, they have a grayscale step wedge. Adjust your monitor to be able to distinguish as many of the levels as possible, and you will have the fundamental brightness of your monitor set to where you can look at any of the evaluation photos properly. Now that level will also be the level at which you should be able to get prints back without radical difference in brightness between what you see on the screen and on the print.

yeah all the pictures I get developed at Wal-Mart are terrible, I won't use their service again, unless I am in a real pickle, stinks because they are the only quick gig in town that I know of, hmmm maybe our pharmacy does them, have to check into that!

Also: If prints are consistently too dark, and everything else is right, you might want to turn the brightness of the display down a bit further.... (Might be difficult on an LCD). My CRT is at 100 Cd/m^2.

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